Three day Bank Holiday 'party' cancelled

Organisers of a three-day party in Herefordshire have confirmed the event has been cancelled.

A notice submitted by Ben Carding of Bristol said the “temporary discotheque for between 120 and 160 people” would run at Coed Major Farm, Craswall from 6pm on Friday, August 27 to midday on Sunday, August 29.

An earlier attempt to host an event at the farm had then been cancelled following advice by West Mercia Police.

Both the planned bank holiday weekend event and the earlier unsuccessful attempt were advertised as a “belated birthday party”.

In a statement, organiser Ben Carding said: "It has not been advertised in any public forum and no tickets have ever been on sale to the general public. The temporary event notice application was accompanied by an event risk and environmental impact assessment that was approved and described as "comprehensive" by West Mercia Police, and by a noise management plan that was praised by Herefordshire Council's principal environmental health officer."

"It has been the priority of the event's organising team to cause no nuisance or distress to local residents in the vicinity of Coed Major Farm. We feel that the publicity the notice application has attracted in the days since the publication of the story, which includes being shared across multiple online platforms, creates an elevated risk of local residents experiencing significant noise and disruption next weekend from members of the public who will travel to the local area in the expectation of an illegal event of some kind. In effect, the reports of a rave occurring will become a self fulfilling prophecy fuelled by social media."

"We have therefore taken the difficult decision today to cancel the event and withdraw the TEN application, in the interest of protecting the safety and wellbeing of both our guests and members of the local community who may be affected by the course of events that we cannot realistically control."